In this reading journal I will post the contents of and my thoughts on any books I read, regardless of whether or not I liked it or even finished it.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

MY EDUCATION

TITLE: MY EDUCATION

AUTHOR: SUSAN CHOI

Pages: 395

Date: 11/08/2013

Grade: 3

Details: Received from Short Books

Through Nudge

Own

The story:

It is 1992 and Regina Gottlieb, 20 years old, is
starting her graduate degree. From the very first time she sees him at a poetry
reading, Regina
is mesmerized by Nicholas Brodeur, the seductive English professor with a
rather shocking reputation. Although she is well aware that it may not be the
smartest thing to do, Regina
accepts a job as his assistant and slowly finds herself entering the world
Nicholas and his wife, Martha, inhabit. Getting closer to Nicholas and Martha
means a distance develops between Regina
and her house-mate, friend and occasional lover, Dutra.

While it is Regina’s
fascination with Nicholas Brodeur and his reputation that entices her into his
orbit, he won’t be the subject of her fantasies and desires. A passionate
affair will follow, but instead of Nicholas it will be the person closest to
him who captivates Regina
to such an extent that she disregards the consequences her feelings and actions
will have, both for herself and for those around her. And it won’t be until 15
years later that the conflicts that started in 1992 and their lasting
consequences come to the surface and have a chance of being put to rest.

My thoughts:

I am not entirely sure how I feel about this book or
what to say about it. This a rather typical coming-of-age story in that it
portrays the journey a young woman makes from the innocence and happy-go-lucky
lifestyle so typical of teenagers to the very real and harsh consequences that
an affair and first deep, but unattainable love can bring. And the gravity of
everything Regina
encounters and experiences jumps of the page in the form of long and at times
seemingly mindless descriptions of everything she sees, feels, does and
experiences. And that is where my main issue with this book lies. While I
realise that those first encounters with deep but impossible love can turn us
into philosophers, I can’t help feeling that this book, or rather the writing
in it, was trying to be a bit too clever. Overly long and detailed descriptions
and complicated structures to the sentences forced me regularly to re-read a
sentence or paragraph multiple times before I got the meaning. And this enforced
re-reading kept on taking me out of what was a very interesting story.

Because, while the main story-line was fascinating, it
seemed to take a back-seat to all those descriptions. After almost 400 pages I
can only say that at all times I felt that very little was actually happening
in this story. The emotions as experienced by Regina never quite seemed to
match that which was happening to her and despite all the descriptions I never
developed an understanding for her actions or a clear picture of what was
motivating the other characters caught up in this drama.

I guess it is hard to get truly involved in a story in
which the object of everybody’s desires is a character I can’t find attractive
and, probably more importantly, can’t imagine anybody else finding attractive
either. Because it isn’t really Regina’s
actions that upset everybody’s lives. In fact, you could say that while Regina is the one
relating this story she isn’t really the main catalyst in it. That honour, in
my opinion, falls to the person she has her affair with, the person I could
never get a handle on or sympathise with.

From the description on the back of this book it would
be easy to get the impression that this is a work of erotic fiction; however it
isn’t. While an affair plays a huge and devastating part in this story, and
that affair is definitely passionate, this is not the sort of book that
indulges in detailed or long descriptions of intimacy. This is a book about
feelings, about acting on those feelings and the consequences those actions can
have, not only on the lives of those personally caught up in that passion but
also on those around them. This is a literary novel about love, lust, betrayal
and devastation. It is a story about growing up and recognising the
consequences of our actions, even if it takes years for the real consequences
to come to the surface.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I liked the
story, or the idea behind it, but didn’t – always – enjoy the way in which it
was told. To me this book seemed at times overly descriptive and lyrical which
made it a slow and at times a bit of a hard to follow reading experience for
me. I can’t help feeling though that this may well be a deficiency on my part
rather than a fault of the author. If you enjoy a thoughtful, descriptive and
introspective story written by someone who uses words masterfully as well as
abundantly, you will probably love this book.

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About Me

My name is Marleen. I'm Dutch but have been living in Ireland for well over 15 years now. I have a passion and love for reading and books. Since early 2008 I have been lucky enough to have been working part time in the library in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan where among other things I run the library reading group.
I will read almost anything that has words in it, and post my thoughts on everything I read in this blog:

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In this blog I write my thoughts on every book I read. Some I will have brought home from the library, some will have been bought while others will have been sent to me for review. I do not get paid for reading and reviewing any books and all opinions are mine and mine alone. Whether a book was borrowed, bought or received will be indicated at the top of every review.

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